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Colin Kaepernick Tattoos (Photos) SF 49ers QB Ink Catches Criticism

San Francisco 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick's tattoos are the subject of a column this week criticizing the young signal caller's ink.

AOL Sports David Whitley wrote a column criticizing the tattoos and remembering days where NFL signal callers were ink free.

At least that you could see.

"For dinosaurs like me, Whitley writes in the column, "NFL quarterbacks were our little Dutch boys. The original hero stuck his finger in the (dike) to save Holland. Pro QBs were the last line of defense against the raging sea of ink. When our kids said they wanted a tattoo, we could always point to the Manning brothers."

USA Today talked to Rick and Teresa Kaepernick, the parents who adopted Colin as a baby.

The paper noters that they weren't happy with the analysis comparing their son to inmates.

"It annoyed me," Teresa said. "You are categorizing this kid on something like tattoos? Really? Saying other guys are role models because they don't have them? Really? Some of these other guys don't have crystal clear reputations. That's how you're going to define this kid? It's pretty irritating, but it is what it is."